A SkyLoft town home model features a wall of brick and a comfy sectional sofa. — Nelvin C. Cepeda In a SocialGarden town home, a nursery for twins has a Dr. Seuss-inspired décor. — Nelvin C. Cepeda

Origen opening party

What: An opening celebration for the Origen town homes at Civita will have free food, craft beers and live music. Two food trucks — Miho Gastrotruck and Food Farm — will serve complimentary lunch, and there will be free tastings of craft beers from Karl Strauss Brewing Co. and Green Flash Brewing Co.

When: Feb. 18, noon to 3 p.m.

Where: 7894 Civita Blvd., San Diego, 92108

Info: (619) 294-9458

Max is a mover and shaker who works downtown. He enjoys entertaining on the main floor of his stylish, four-story SkyLoft. But when he’s alone, he pursues his passion for music on the top floor, where he plays the piano while warmed by a cozy fireplace.

A few doors away, Kyle and Julia are learning how to meld parenthood with busy careers. Their twins are just 6 months old, but Julia has managed to maintain her interior design business from her home office — and talk Kyle into a mostly pink and green palette for their three-floor SocialGarden row home.

Meanwhile, their neighbors Travis and Lucy have merged their taste for contemporary design with a warm décor. The young professional couple chose hues of onyx, pewter and cobalt for their SocialGarden unit, their first home purchase. Fitness buffs, they also turned their guest bedroom into a dedicated gym.

Each of these owners might thank Dawn Davidson, president of Design Line Interiors, for the personal detail in their dwellings at Shea Homes’ Origen development, part of Sudberry Properties’ new Civita community overlooking Mission Valley. After all, she and her team spent months seeking just the right finishes and furniture to appeal to these clients’ preferences.

The problem is, these clients don’t exist. Just their profiles.

“We would sit in rooms for hours and hours and just brainstorm about each of them,” Davidson said about her team’s method for decorating the Origen models. “For us it was about pretending who we’re designing for — really creating them in our minds — right down to the type of dog they might have so we would have the right size of leash hanging on the wall.”

The project began two years ago when Shea Homes, Origen’s developer, approached Design Line Interiors and several other firms about designing their upcoming model units. Instead of the typical bid process, Shea’s president, Paul Barnes, asked each firm to fabricate a symbol of Origen’s concept from five simple items.

“We asked them to do this for the fun of it and not just look at it as another business opportunity,” Barnes said. “And we did have fun. You could see where they were inspired to think outside the box. I think the individual homes also now have that unique fingerprint as a result.”

From those presentations, Barnes hired three firms and divided the 10 model units among them, including Davidson’s group, instead of using one designer. This strategy was not without its challenges, Davidson said, since all the row homes needed to be distinctive.

“We all wanted the best ideas for ourselves,” she said with a laugh. “But we really had to pull rabbits out of hats when it came to designing entire houses from scratch on very strict budgets. Most people take two or three years to decorate their whole home, and we were doing it all at once.”

By inventing residents for the homes, Davidson said, her firm was able to focus on details such as that fourth-floor piano in the bachelor pad, a Dr. Seuss-themed nursery for the twins and a metal-studded geometric wall design for the fitness-oriented couple’s master bedroom. This approach also led them to include DIY pieces not normally found in models — like an ornate raspberry-painted frame around the wall-hung flat-screen TV in the family’s unit — and other clever, inexpensive touches.

“We didn’t want people to go in these houses and say, ‘Look at how much they spent.’ That’s crazy in this economy, ” she said.

But that doesn’t mean the Origen units are without luxury. The five SkyLoft floor plans range from 1,452 to 1,760 square feet, while the SocialGarden row homes start at 1,390 square feet and top out at 2,110 square feet. All include 2.5 to 3.5 bathrooms, two to three bedrooms and a two-car garage, plus dramatic use of windows, high ceilings and balconies. Many features usually categorized as upgrades are standard in the homes, such as stainless-steel appliances, Caesarstone countertops and vessel sinks — but Shea offers numerous options, too, from ceiling fans to recessed lighting to closet organizers.

“We knew our market would be primarily a little younger and in shape,” she said, pointing out the units’ vertical orientation. “And we felt most buyers here would be design savvy. We needed to make sure that when they walked into these homes, they were never bored.”

We’ll never know what Max or Julia or Travis think of “their” homes, but Paul Barnes said he knew his design strategy had achieved the right appeal when his teen daughter toured the models with him.

Awe-struck by the home’s interiors, she said with passion, “Dad, I want to be a designer.”